The present disclosure addresses problems in the fencing industry but may find application in other areas. For simplicity of description, example embodiments of the invention will be described with the problems and considerations of the fencing industry in mind.
Many farm fences are of wire construction. Posts are placed at intervals and multiple parallel wires are strung between them. To help maintain the relative tension of the wires and keep them spaced apart, floating (i.e. not planted or secured to the ground) battens are regularly spaced between the posts. These are often of wood, and typically around 40×40 mm in cross-section.
The fence wires are usually fastened to the battens and posts by means of fence staples—U-shaped nails that accommodate the wire in their crook. While easy to hammer in, they are actually very difficult to remove—especially without damaging the fence wire.
Normally, staples only need to be removed during fence repairs—occasionally battens need to be replaced or a section of fencing may be altered. In both cases, it is usually a case of trying to repair the fence rather than replacing it. Accordingly it is desirable that the fence wires remain intact and are not damaged. However, trying to remove staples (especially barbed staples) with traditional means often results in damage of the fence wire, such as stripping of the galvanized coating on a fence wire that leads to oxidation, rust, and fence line degradation leading to costly repair.
The main causes of damage relate to the fact that the crook of a staple is quite small and sometimes smaller than the actual diameter of the wire. Hence the area of the crook is completely filled with wire, making it difficult to lift the staple without the wire (lifting the wire can damage or introduce a weak point into the wire). Sometimes also, in softwood battens, the staple can be overdriven into the batten, making it even harder (using conventional means) to lift the staple. Quite a degree of force is required to lift a staple, often requiring some leverage to pull up the staple. Known pliers have jaws with a rounded head (like the claw of a hammer) to provide some leverage to pull the staple out (like a conventional nail with a claw hammer). One problem with such pliers, however, is that the rotating leverage applied by traditional pliers is transverse to the length of the batten. Since most battens are around 40 mm wide, it is very difficult to effectively use traditional pliers to pull out staples from battens—you can pull the staples a short distance if you are lucky, but can't get any further leverage due to the lack of an adequate support surface (i.e. you are limited by the width of the batten).
Secondly, most traditional pliers for use in fencing are crimping pliers, for crimping wire joiners/sleeves. Due to the force required to compress the joiners/sleeves, they are typically designed for two handed use. In contrast, a one handed plier suitable for removing staples will be quicker and easier to use, and will potentially speed up repair jobs for the user.
Hence, batten replacement is an often onerous and tedious job and typically results in damage to the fence wire.
Accordingly there is a need to provide an improved process and/or apparatus capable of more effectively removing metal fence staples from fence battens.
Accordingly there is a need to provide apparatus capable of removing metal fence staples from fence battens and posts, and which can be used substantially with one hand.
Another issue which also needs to be addressed is tensioning the fence wires as they are stapled to fencing battens and posts during repairs, temporary fences, and new installations. For a new fence, specialized wire strainers are generally used to tension wires at the strainer posts. However, sometimes a farmer needs to apply tension to a wire during a repair, or when putting up a temporary fence.
Not all farmers have specialized wire strainers/tensioners, as they are a specialized professional tool aimed at fencing contractors. Further, it is not generally something the farmer will carry around (typically on their quad-bike as they travel around the farm) as specialized strainers are only occasionally used. Hence, if in a remote area of the farm the farmer notices that a small repair needs to be made, they will need to make a special trip back to the toolshed to retrieve their wire strainer or (most likely) improvise with some other tool—typically a pair of standard or fencing pliers, though it is very difficult to apply a good degree of tension on a wire using these tools and any repair will need to be followed up and done properly.
Accordingly, there is also a need for a tool which is readily able to be carried around as part of a farmer's standard tool kit, and which can easily allow a farmer or fencer to apply a good degree of tension on a fencing wire during various uses such as repairs, and stringing temporary fences.